(October 2, 2007)—McLennan County Justice of the Peace Frank Culpepper Tuesday increased the bond for former Central Texas minister Matt Baker from $200,000 to $400,000.

Baker, 36, who is charged in the 2006 death of his 31-year-old wife Kari Lynn Baker, remained in custody Tuesday night.

He surrendered to Kerr County authorities after Texas Rangers went to arrest him on Sept. 21 on a murder warrant and was transferred Monday to the McLennan County Jail.

McLennan County Justice of the Peace Billy Martin issued the arrest warrant for Baker just three days after he ruled that the manner of Kari Lynn Baker’s death was “undetermined” rather than suicide, which was his preliminary ruling.

The ruling came after a closed-door inquest in August.

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Martin issued the preliminary suicide ruling on April 8, 2006 after consulting with police, and concluding that the area elementary schoolteacher died from an overdose of sleeping pills in her home in the Waco suburb of Hewitt.

Police found a typed, unsigned suicide note at the scene.

Three months later, at the request of the woman’s parents, Martin ordered her body exhumed for an autopsy after questions surfaced about whether Baker took her own life.

Pathologists found traces of Ambien and Unisom in her system, but could not accurately determine the concentration of the drugs.

But an expert cited in the affidavit says if Kari Baker ingested enough of either drug to cause her death, then she could not have died in the time frame provided by her husband, who told investigators that he left around 11:15 p.m. on April 7 2006 to buy gas and rent movies, and returned home to find his wife nude on the bed and cold to the touch.

The affidavit supplied for the warrant by Hewitt investigator Ben Toombs indicates that authorities think Kari Baker may have been suffocated with a pillow or similar object after she was “rendered defenseless” by a combination of alcohol and Unisom.

Baker’s parents, James and Linda Dulin, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Matt Baker, alleging the former pastor was having an affair, killed his wife, and made her death appear to be a suicide.

Matt Baker's attorney, Gerald Villarreal, has said his client wasn't involved in his wife's death.

Baker had recently moved from the Waco area to Kerrville with his 6- and 10-year-old daughters, who are now in the care of relatives.

Baker was a former pastor at several area Baptist churches and once served as chaplain at the Waco Center for Youth.

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